What's your electric bill this month? (Miami: renting, townhouse, landscaping)

[tallrick]

Got a 36.32 power bill this time. Like the poster above I have all but replaced the incandescents. They are still less expensive to run in the bathrooms and for the motion lights though. I can't believe how reliable and smooth running the generator is, and how beautifully the air conditioner is working. The only power I am consuming is when I am away for work and the generator is off. I am still setting the AC to 72 day, 65 night.

[kbeejbee]

i live in a 1600 sq. foot 1963 built home, with lots of windows and cross ventilition. our bills are typically $80/month and a gas bill (stove and hot water) of $25. beginning last week, we have not had the air conditioning on at all and will probably not for most of the winter. the problem with most new homes are no cross ventilation, poor windows (louvers being the worst) and needed ceiling fans. they were built strictly for a/c. we have cool breezes coming from the back of the house and blowing throughout the house all day and night. just beautiful.

[rogerbacon]

I just paid $72.30 last night. I love this time of year. To some people the Fall means changfing leaves. To South Floridians it means a return to reasonable electric bills.

[amberamour]

I'm happy to report that our bill was $158 this last time. It will never be low-low because we do run the a/c 24/7 but that's fairly decent for us any time of year.
As a huge grouch about the heat I have to say I've been relieved to go outside after dark with my husband and enjoy the cool night air.
Now when will our first REAL cold front come???!!!

[AJ1972]

1200 sq. ft.
About $200 per month, give or take

[sapphos]

We are preparing to move back to Miami after living in:
Buenos Aires where a 3500 sq foot house was costing us around 70.00 a month for electric and ac (heat was gas)
Chapel Hill, NC where our spring/summer bill on a 2000 sq foot house was around 240.00 per month (full electric for everything)
San Antonio where on a 1200 sq foot house July - Sept was averaging around 200.00 a month (full electric for everything)
Savannah, GA where we've been since September and our heat/ac/reg electric has been running around 130.00
Keep in mind we keep our heat around 72 and our AC around 76 and we are now in a tract home with out any trees.

In Miami we were paying in Bayside for an old 1920's house 1400 sq ft- 100.00 for heat/ac/electric, sucky insulation, windows that leaked like sieves, inadequate AC for the house, etc.
Surfside 1400 sq ft around 80.00 a month but we kept the lights off as much as possible.

Actually for most of our places we try to have lights off as late into the day as possible and practice good energy consumption. now we've just added a washing machine whereas before we were doing laundry at the laundromat and since I use cloth diapers our current bill will most likely rise

As an aside, my brother is in CT. His bills have been averaging around 400 a month for winter and around 300 in summer and he's not a particularly high heat/ac kind of guy.

Just thought the comparisons would be interesting.

[BrandonHex]

For an 850(ish) sq ft apartment, our bill ranges from $80 (during cooler months) to as high as $120 (during the hotter months). Mind you, I always have the AC running at full blast, even when it's only 70 degrees outside.

[Momma_bear]

We're at about $300 in the winter, more in the summer. House is 4000 sf. We run AC on a program that lets the temp rise slighty during the daytime when nobody is home and we have a heated pool.

[illini84]

About $50/mo. for a 750 sq. ft. 1 bedroom apartment in South Beach. I turn the A/C off while I'm at work (about 8am to 7pm), but blast it at night. I'm still fairly impressed with the bill.

[decisions-decisions...]

We will be moving to Miami from Dubai (where the temperature 5 months out of the year is close to 120 fahrenheit). I cannot believe the prices you are paying for electricity!
I am unsure of the billing there- does that include water as well or is that strictly electrical? If I rent a 3 bed apartment in a highrise are these bills normally included or on top of rent? We are really used to heat and only run AC when necessary and when we are home. What other bills should I be looking at to pay as a renter? Electricity, water...?